Italian mince with linguine is a recipe for a complete meal. The sauce is more meaty than the traditional Bolognese! Enjoy the flavours and create a trusty main course that makes you feel well fed. Use minced beef with a low-fat content for best result. Less than 5% fat is worth it as the more the fat as you start the less amount of meat you get in the end. If you use ‘economy’ mince you might find that at the end you have a layer of fat and some of this will need spooning off. If you let the mince go cold the fat will set and it is easy to lift it off and discard it.

Cooks Know How: This recipe enablesyou to manage your time well using the session to create a meal. Your Italian meat sauce will have been on the hob first, followed later by your pasta. You will have a hot meal without using your oven and will understand the idea of pan management. You may also see the cost implications of using fresh or dried herbs. Bring on grow-your-own!! You can feel better about using mince because you will have improved the flavours to make it bold and ready to coat the linguini. Cooking meat turns it brown and makes it safe to eat. Browning the meat also develops the flavour of the meat. During cooking the meat shrinks and any fat melts to help tenderise the meat. Thorough cooking is essential and moist-cooking, using favoursome juices, as in this recipe, aids the conversion of tough meat to tender meat.

Next Time

Try different types of pasta as it really does make a different meal. Develop the flavours of the sauce by adding a glass of red wine. Make two batches together and then use the extra sauce to create a lasagne dish the next day (or freeze it in readiness for a lasagne).